Stetson University history

Designed by Henry John Klutho, the first Floridian to earn membership in the American Institute of Architects, it shows the conservative Neoclassicism found in many Carnegie libraries across the United States. It was later renamed Sampson Hall to honor C.T. Sampson, a university trustee, who had contributed over the years to Stetson's library fund and left an additional $20,000 for a library endowment when he died in 1893.

29, 1894- Stetson played its first football game (an intramural game) in front of hundreds of onlookers.

Stetson University College of Law humbly began on October 2, 1900, with five students from Florida.

The first floor contained offices, a dining room, a kitchen, a room for the preceptress who had charge of building and living quarters for the university's first president, John F. Forbes, and his family, who stayed in the building until 1903.

Forbes, who was personally selected by Henry A. DeLand, was president of the university until 1904.

Florida's first female lawyer graduated from the College of Law in 1908.

After his death in 1913, the three-story classroom building was renamed in his honor.

While serving as president of Stetson University, he served two terms in the Florida State Senate starting in 1918.

In 1951, the Holler Fountain was installed as the centerpiece of Stetson's Quadrangle, bounded by Elizabeth Hall, Sampson Hall and the formerly-present Stetson and Holmes Halls.

20, 1954- Stetson University College of Law moves to Gulfport, Fla., from its inaugural home in Flagler Hall at the DeLand campus.

In 1960, Stetson became the first white college in Florida to admit black students.

George Williams Sr. was the first African-American to earn a degree from Stetson University- a master's degree in guidance and counseling in 1964.

Cornelius Hunter (pictured), the university's first African-American undergraduate student, graduated in 1966.

In 1999 Tailored Tours Publications published her first book, Flavors of St Augustine: An Historic Cookbook.

In 2000 Hall established West Volusia Properties, her real estate company.

The Tampa Law Center opened in 2004 as a major hub for legal activity, housing evening law classes, the Tampa branch of the Florida Second District Court of Appeal, and legal conferences.

As a Realtor Hall was the overall top producer for the board in 2005, selling the most vacant land and commercial real estate.

Stetson University entered a new era of leadership on July 13, 2009 when Doctor Wendy B. Libby became the ninth president in Stetson University's history and the first woman to hold the post.

The organ's 50th anniversary was observed with a two-day celebration in 2011.

Roellke is widely regarded as an exceptionally effective and collaborative higher education leader who is past president for the Association of Education Finance and Policy, a 2014 Fulbright Scholar and the founder and fundraiser of Vassar College’s Urban Education Initiative.

The Revolving Green Fund is created and students choose their first project, a solar array, in Spring 2018.